Written By @Twist.It.Tea
Milk Makeup Ubame Mascara. By Taylor Adami
I was so intrigued by Milk Makeup’s Ubame Mascara that I couldn’t wait to put it to the test. As we all know, Milk Makeup is eco-conscious, paraben free and all around very innovative when it comes to ingredients and from first glance, this mascara didn’t fall short in those categories. But I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is Milk Makeup just one big gimmick?” (I know a few of you are scoffing at this!!) I will say it has it’s up and downs but part way through writing this article I had made up my mind about which category Ubame Mascara fell in to. I want to mention first, the notable ingredients, and then with how it applied to my lashes.
Kishu Binchotan Charcoal courtesy of Free People
One of the first unusual ingredients is right in the name, Ubame. Ubame is naturally derived from oak trees in the Kishu region of Japan, which is then activated into charcoal. People use ubame for so many different things; mostly to purify water, absorb oils and grilling. I won’t lie, I had no idea what this stuff was but it seemed magical and at the end of my research I was happy to take the time able to educate myself on all of its amazing uses.
The way Milk Makeup utilizes this organic ingredient is by promising a shade of black that is ‘blacker than black’. I’ve personally never had problems with mascara not being a true black but I was willing to let them sucker me in over this ubame oak charcoal. I noticed my lashes were dark, but nothing I’d say stood out to be much of a difference than my normal lashes just a bit more stuck together. I was kind of disappointed, I was expecting a thicker, fuller lash but instead got a clumpy, haphazard mess. My eye lashes were separated and weak. I love when a mascara gives me a full lash starting at the base, and gradually separating.
Not actual sapphire dust, shown is Glitter Dust In Sapphire Blue by Shopo.
Next on the list of “Interesting Ingredient, But What Does It Do?” was the highly proclaimed, sapphire dust. Well, I couldn’t have rolled my eyes harder at this one. After Googling plenty of different variations of, “what is sapphire dust?”, “what does sapphire dust do?”, none of my questions were answered especially in regard to what Milk Makeup claims to provide, “dimension and depth”. At this point I’m a little skeptical because I’m getting the feeling Milk Makeup is marketing to a consumer who will buy anything that sounds ‘natural’ or ‘better for you’. Honestly, I don’t see any need for sapphire dust in a mascara, but Milk seems to think it’s an important enough ingredient. I won’t lie, it does sound pretty cool to say you’re mascara is made out of activated charcoal and sapphire dust. But, it doesn’t change the fact that this mascara really fell short. I would have loved if the dust provided a reflective property to make the lashes seem fuller or longer. Anything to make them seem less unenthused. With Milk boasting about their Ubame mascara being 75% natural ingredients, I was convinced at this point they’re just throwing shit in there to sound cool. And the reason why I’m saying that is because ,they got me. I thought these two ingredients were both interesting enough, to have high hopes for the mascara. I was hoping the notable ingredients were more than a shock factor, but functional ingredients. Unfortunately for me, this formula caused my eyes to it itch shortly into the day. It is highlighted to be a buildable mascara and I found myself applying it close to four times before seeing some drama. I think the excessive coats, mixed with a drier formula caused the mascara to flake under and into my eyes resulting in my eyes becoming extremely itchy. So not only were my eyes itchy but black flecks were sticking under my eyes, and it looked like I haven’t been getting much sleep. I didn’t put all of this together until I started reading some reviews claiming the same reaction.
Milk Makeup Ubame Mascara Wand. By Taylor Adami
Apart from the non memorable formula, the 3 part wand was possibly the most unnecessary thing about this whole mascara. The directions claim that curling your eyelash prior isn’t needed. I beg to differ. In order to achieve any noticeable effect I had to curl my lashes prior or else they would stick straight out. It was annoying having to apply 4-5 coats per eye to only get a fraction of what BlackUp Volumizing Lengthening Mascara gives me in 1-2 strokes. I don’t think this brush does anything for me at all, it was even difficult to apply in some areas of my eye because of the shape.
I will say one positive thing about Milk Makeups Ubame Mascara is their genius concept of the squeeze tube. I loved feeling like I had more control over how much formula I was putting on the comb, and I wish every company would implement this packaging into their mascara lines. Unfortunately this packaging wasn’t enough to make up for the overall underwhelming results.
